Old Dog, New Tricks

I often say that I don't know how to do anything right until I've done it wrong every possible way. That's almost true, but not quite. Every now and then I get out to visit, and find that other people know how to do things, and I can just learn from them!
So, let me share some of the things I learned on my trip to Tennessee last week, and some of the great ideas and methods I will borrow to save myself some time:

Conifers are a passion of mine. Here are some examples of how to grow them right in the SE.

Duane's conifer hill

Donny Corleone himself


Ponds 'N Plants

Carol and one of her favorites- Cupressus glabra 'Limelight'


A recent blog talked about "Making Mudpies" out of hypertufa. Well, I had no clue about how sophisticated hypertufa can be when made by seasoned artists instead of grownup kids. Take a look! They know their concrete in Tennessee!


                        David's alligator concrete casting

Mike's pots



Helen and Kayo's leaf print paver


Jimmy's rock construction
Jimmy's troughs

hypertufa leaf birdbath


old concrete culvert pot



The range of display beds from east to west Tennessee amazed and inspired me. Color, texture, and size combos not only scratched the surface of possibilities, but blew way past. Turns out, plants can be grown in an explosion of conditions and combinations. The experts from Jacksboro to Jackson tried cheerfully to fill in the huge gaps in my knowledge, and made it fun!

Jason's front border



UT's new scree border

Helen and Kayo's color combos

pot at Western TN Research and Extension

Faye's incredible garden,


water feature, design genius.

Even garden ornaments can be creative, playful, artistic, and LARGE!
Ron's big bug at the UT trial gardens

We went on to Alabama on our way home to visit fellow nursery woman and friend Eleanor - "the fern lady". (www.fernridgefarms.com) We met at the Huntsville Botanical Garden for a quick look, and continued on our path of borrowed ideas:

Dinosaur display- Huntsville BG children's garden

We see examples of homemade bird houses from time to time, and they have tweeked Joe's interest more than once as a project for his spare time......

Check THIS one out!


Model RR layout in Huntsville Botanical Garden- great use of conifers here, too!

The three very hot bears.

There is a saying that" imitation is the most serious form of flattery". Well, I am serious. And I am just getting started on making you all blush!

Making Mud Pies

It's been hot. And it's been June! I think we had 90's for 19 or 20 days in a row, and most of that was 96, 97, 98. There was one morning when I left the house at 5:45 am and it was already 80 degrees!

Even in the mountains, where we watched our big girl and her groom "take the plunge", it was unusually warm and humid. And although there were loads of rain opportunities, we seemed to be getting only the windy, thundery, lightening-turns-the electricity-off part, and not the actual drops of water from the sky.

So, what happens at the nursery when it's so hot so soon? First of all, the weeds seem to go crazy. That means long days of bending over, sweat dripping off your face, as you try to take control back for the sake of the "good plants". Then since it's June, there's fertilizing and herbiciding that has to be done, also involving much bending over and sweating. So...we start early in the morning, we try to work methodically, we spend a lot of time watering.
And then I've just got to change the subject.

So last week we led up to the July 4th holiday with "hypertufa week".

Hypertufa is defined by Wikipedia as " an anthropic rock made from various aggregates bonded together using Portland cement.Hypertufa is intended as a manufactured substitute for natural tufa, which is a slowly precipitated limestone rock; being very porous, it is favorable for plant growth. Hypertufa is popular for making garden ornaments, pots and land forms. Hypertufa is relatively light compared with terracotta or concrete and can withstand harsh winters, at least down to −30 °C (−22 °F)Hypertufa was invented for use in alpine gardens. Alpine gardeners formerly used antique animal watering troughs, which became rare and expensive.

There are many recipes for hypertufa, but most include peat and perlite with the Portland cement. It's always a bit of an adventure to get the water just right. The mixture needs to be solid, but still workable. It needs to conform to the mold, but not ooze once placed. But really, it's like making mud pies with your friends out in the back yard. It was summer activity from our childhood, when we were so hard at play that we never noticed the temperature.

So Maggie Sullivan and Adam and I mixed and molded; chiseled and brushed and scraped. At the end of the week, we had figured the right formulas for perlite and water, we'd gotten "the feel" in our hands, and we'd made a trailer full of pretty cool pots. We even expanded into a few other ideas to be pursued next time.



Meanwhile, the sweltering continued, but the hit and miss thunderstorms actually hit us for an inch and a bit in the rain gauge.
At the end of the week the weather broke, and we fell miraculously back into the cool low 80's. We had played through the worst of it, and had a great time. Mary Poppins was right....."

In ev'ry job that must be done
There is an element of fun
You find the fun and snap!
The job's a game
And ev'ry task you undertake
Becomes a piece of cake
A lark! A spree! It's very clear to see that

A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown...." *

* Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman